Carole King

Excellent memoir. Life in the music biz in the 60's and 70's from growing up Jewish in NYC, meeting songwriting partner and later, husband, Gerry Goffin, writing hits for the Shirelles and the Drifters, raising kids while the husband drifts off to acidland and moves to LA, eventually following, and writing for the Monkees and the Byrds, to huge singer-songwriter success in the 70's, and beyond. Through the whole trip, it's impossible not to like her. And the writing is quality. Highly recommended.… (more)

Excellent memoir. Life in the music biz in the 60's and 70's from growing up Jewish in NYC, meeting songwriting partner and later, husband, Gerry Goffin, writing hits for the Shirelles and the Drifters, raising kids while the husband drifts off to acidland and moves to LA, eventually following, and writing for the Monkees and the Byrds, to huge singer-songwriter success in the 70's, and beyond. Through the whole trip, it's impossible not to like her. And the writing is quality. Highly recommended.… (more)

1 Overture
Written-By – Carole King, Toni Stern
2 So Far Away
Written-By – Carole King
3 1650 Broadway Medley
Written-By – Bobby Darin, Greenfield & Sedaka, Jean Murray, Leiber & Stoller
4 It Might As Well Rain Until September
Written-By – Goffin And King
5 Some Kind Of Wonderful
Written-By – Goffin And King
6 Happy Days Are Here Again
Written-By – Jack Yellen, Milton Ager
7 Take Good Care Of My Baby
Written-By – Goffin And King
8 Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Written-By – Goffin And King
9 He's Sure The Boy I Love
Written-By – Mann And Weil
10 Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Written-By – Goffin And King
11 Up On The Roof
Written-By – Goffin And King
12 On Broadway
Written-By – Leiber & Stoller, Mann And Weil
13 The Locomotion
Written-By – Goffin And King
14 You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling
Written-By – Mann And Weil, Phil Spector
15 One Fine Day
Written-By – Goffin And King
16 Chains
Written-By – Goffin And King
17 Walking In The Rain
Written-By – Mann And Weil, Phil Spector
18 Pleasant Valley Sunday
Written-By – Goffin And King
19 We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
Written-By – Mann And Weil
20 Uptown
Written-By – Mann And Weil
21 It's Too Late
Written-By – Carole King, Toni Stern
22 You've Got A Friend
Written-By – Carole King
23 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
Written-By – Goffin And King, Jerry Wexler
24 Beautiful
Written-By – Carole King
25 I Feel The Earth Move
Written-By – Carole King… (more)

Very comprehensive coverage of all her music and personal life. She comes across as thoroughly decent and genuinely nice person; the personal and public persona the same. She lacked confidence growing up, apart from acting, and playing and arranging music (although later a reluctant public performer). Perhaps why she had so many men in her life, not all of them decent. But she doesn't show any malice, no matter how badly she was treated. Some of the early life is a bit saccharine for a non-American; and the commendable conservation work in the latter part can drag. But fascinating insights into her musical work and collaborations ( I hadn't realised that much of Tapestry wasn't written by Gerry Goffin; Toni Stern wrote It's Too Late, my favourite Carole King song). I was left in awe at how much she crammed into her life; and how she was never afraid to uproot and take on fresh challenges. Perhaps a reflection of her Polish and Russian grandparents.… (more)